Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 84 (3): 341-355, 2011
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Pollen and spores of the Navidad Formation, Neogene from
Chile
Palynological assemblages recovered from the Navidad Formation in outcrops
of the Cordillera de la Costa, central Chile, are dominated by wood remains, cuticles, spores and pollen grains and fresh
water algae (continental elements) with scarce dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, foraminiferal linnings marine palynomorphs)
indicating that these assemblages would have been accumulated in a marine environment. Spore-pollen assemblages
indicate a forest vegetation with the co-existence of Gondwanan (Podocarpaceae, Araucariaceae, Nothofagaceae) and
neotropical (Sapotaceae, Malphigiaceae, Arecaceae, Chloranthaceae, Tiliaceae/Bombacaceae) taxa –Mixed Paleoflora–
supporting previous assumptions based on the macroflora. On the forest margins, patches of sclerophyllous formations with
Anacardiaceae and Fabaceae as prevailing components may have also established. Xerophitic and halophytic
shrubbyherbaceous elements (Chenopodiaceae, Calyceraceae) may have developed in sandy soils and costal salt marshes.
Endemic components such as Calyceraceae and Asteraceae (Barnadesioideae) were recorded for the first time in Chile.
This flora would have developed under warm and humid climatic conditions. The spore-pollen assemblages support a
Neogene age for the Navidad Formation.
Key words:
Chile,
Neogene, palynology, South America
